Dwarfs

Dwarfs are another one of the original, classic Blood Bowl races, having appeared in first edition, back in 1988. In addition, the Dwarfs were among the first teams to have official miniatures manufactured for Blood Bowl, in the days when Blood Bowl was still played primarily with cardboard counters.

The Dwarfs are a diminutive, humanoid race, and similar to Dwarfs in other fantasy type settings. Heavily obsessed with honor, gold, beer, and their beards, but not necessarily in that order, the Dwarfs played in the first "modern" game of Blood Bowl, when Dwarf and Orc warriors discovered the ruins of an ancient "temple of Nuffle" and paused their battle to play the game they'd discovered.

Dwarfs are often regarded as one of the "Stunty" teams, and indeed, some of the Games Workshop fluff refers to Dwarfs as "stunties;" they are, however, the strongest of the "Stunty" races and quite capable of competing on the field with the other, larger sentient species!

Perhaps due to the age of the Dwarf team as far as Blood Bowl goes, the Dwarf team has evolved considerably over time, ranging from a team of almost nothing but Linemen to experimental rosters featuring only Troll Slayers. The current Dwarf team is a slightly more diverse team than what it originally was in the early days of Blood Bowl, and there is really only one true "variant" Dwarf team currently legal for play, the Chaos Dwarf roster, which represents the evil, Chaos worshipping members of the species.

Players Available

0-16 Dwarf Blockers

0-2 Dwarf Runners

0-2 Dwarf Blitzers

0-2 Troll Slayers

0-1 Death Roller

The Star Players Barik Farblast, Boomer Eziasson, Flint Chumblade, Grim Ironjaw, Zara the Slayer, an Morg 'n' Thorg are available for inducement by Dwarf teams.

 Play Style and Tactics 

The Dwarf Team has always been a Bashy team in Blood Bowl terms. The players have routinely excellent armor protection, slow movement, and a skill package that concentrates primarily upon General and Strength based Skills. Agility of the Runners and Blitzers is at least average, but the majority of the players on a typical Dwarf team will typically be better suited to blocking than passing or running.

The Dwarf Team is a perennial favorite among many Blood Bowl players, not only because of the general popularity of the Dwarfs as a fantasy race, but because of the overall resilience of the Dwarf team and the very reliable play style of the team. A clever coach can minimize enemy scoring efforts while racking up his own touchdowns and Star Player Points, but without a difficult learning curve. In many ways, the Dwarf team is one of the best possible choices for a starting Blood Bowl coach.

One interesting in the Dwarf lineup is the notorious "Death Roller;" essentially a converted landscaping tool. This is a very nasty piece of equipment, with an amazing Strength 7 and excellent protection, being one of the very rare Armor Value 10 options in Blood Bowl.

 Famous Dwarf Teams 

The most famous Dwarf teams in Blood Bowl fluff include the Dwarf Giants, the Grudgebearers, and Bugman's Best. Because of the populariy of Blood Bowl among Dwarfs, however, there are quite a few Dwarf teams named in the various Blood Bowl articles, stories, and anecdotes.

 Miniatures 

Games Workshop curently produces an official Dwarf Blood Bowl team. It is available for direct order. As with most teams, boxed sets and individual players can be purchased; the team's "Big Guy", the notorious Death Roller, has always been sold separately from the main team box, regardless of incarnation. The most recent sculpt, which owes much of its design to the very first Death Roller miniature, produced for 2nd edition, is still available for sale. That said, the older, now out of print style Dwarf miniatures are still quite popular, and can occassionally be found on Ebay, as can the older Death Roller models.

There are a few options when looking for alternatives to Games Workshop Dwarfs. Most of the providers of Alternative Miniatures have played upon the theme of fantasy sports Dwarfs to one extent or another, and are worth checking out. Death Rollers are harder to come by, but some diligent searching may bring up excellent proxies and alternatives.